Abstract
The shortage of nurses is a problem in many countries. We examined how factors related to wage, work, job satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and workplace or demographic factors were associated with nurses’ intentions to switch from health care to non-health-care roles. Wage and share of income from shift work were negatively and statistically significantly related to nurses’ intention to leave the health care sector. However, some non-pecuniary variables, such as Possibility for Specialisation gained a positive, statistically significant association with job satisfaction and thereby decreased intention to change work sector. Therefore, not only economic factors influence the labour supply of nurses.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonazzo, E., Scott, A., Skatun, D., Elliot, R.F.: The labour market for nursing: a review of the labour supply literature. Health Econ. 12, 465–478 (2003)
Askildsen, J.E., Baltagi, B.H., Holmås, T.H.: Wage policy in the health care sector: a panel data analysis of nurses’ labour supply. Health Econ. 12, 705–719 (2003)
Atencio, B.L., Cohen, J., Gorenberg, B.: Nurse retention: is it worth it? Nurs. Econ. 21(6), 262–299 (2003)
Bollen, K.A.: Structural Equations with Latent Variables, 1st edn. Wiley, New York (1989)
Borjas, G.J.: Labor Economics. McGraw-Hill, Singapore (1996)
Buchan, J.: Nursing shortages and evidence-based interventions: a case study from Scotland. Int. Nurs. Rev. 49, 209–218 (2002)
Buerhaus, P., Staiger, D., Auerbach, D.: Policy responses to an ageing registered nurse workforce. Nurs. Econ. 18, 278–303 (2000)
Castle, N., Degenholz, H., Rosen, J.: Determinants of staff job satisfaction of caregivers in two nursing homes in Pennsylvania. BMC. Health Serv. Res. 6, 60 (2006)
Chiha, Y.A., Link, C.R.: The shortage of registered nurses and some new estimates of the effects of wages on registered nurses labor supply: a look at the past and a preview of the 21st century. Health Policy 64, 349–375 (2003)
Davidson, H., Folcarelli, P.H., Crawford, S., Duprat, L.J., Clifford, J.C.: The effects of health care reforms on job satisfaction and voluntary turnover among hospital-based nurses. Med. Care. 35(6), 634–645 (1997)
Gray, A.M., Phillips, V.L.: Labour turnover in the British National Health Service: a local labour market analysis. Health Policy 36, 273–289 (1996)
Häkkinen, U.: The impact of changes in Finland’s health care system. Health Econ. 14, 101–118 (2005)
Häkkinen, U., Lehto, J.: Reform, change, and continuity in Finnish health care. J. Health Politi. Policy Law. 30, 79–96 (2005)
Hall, R.E., Lazear, E.P.: The excess sensitivity of layoffs and quits to demand. J. Labor Econ. 2(2), 233–257 (1984)
Hämäläinen, H.: Työvoiman rekrytointi toimipaikoissa vuonna 2005. Selvitys työvoiman hankintakanavista, rekrytointiongelmista ja toimipaikkojen tulevaisuuden näkymistä. Työministeriö http://www.mol.fi/ (2005). Accessed 18 Dec 2006
Järvelin, J.: Health Care Systems in Transition: Finland. Copenhagen: European Observatory on Health Care System 4, 1 (2002)
Jöreskog, K., Sörbom, D.: LISREL 8: Structural Equation Modeling with the SIMPLIS Command Language. Scientific Software International, Chicago (1993a)
Jöreskog, K., Sörbom, D.: LISREL 8 User’s Reference Guide. Scientific Software, Chicago (1993b)
Kankaanranta, T., Nummi, T., Vainiomäki, J., Halila, H., Hyppölä, H., Isokoski, M., Kujala, S., Kumpusalo, E., Mattila, K., Virjo, I., Vänskä, J., Rissanen, P.: The role of job satisfaction, ob dissatisfaction and demographic factors on physicians’ intentions to switch work sector from public to private. Health Policy 83, 50–64 (2007)
Letvak, S.: Retaining the older nurse. J. Nurs. Adm. 32, 387–392 (2002)
Lu, H., While, A., Barriball, K.L.: Job satisfaction among nurses: a literature review. Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 42, 211–227 (2005)
Manderino, M.A., Berkey, N.: Verbal abuse of staff nurses by physicians. J. Prof. Nurs. 13(1), 48–55 (1997)
Markkanen, K., Aarnio, A., Elvilä, R., Honkalampi, T., Sandberg, M., Savonen, T., Tammisto, S., Vasama, K.: Tehy tilastoina 2005. Tehyn julkaisusarja D: Tilastoja 1/2005 http://www.tehy.fi (2005). Accessed 14 June 2007
Parker, C., Rickman, B.: Economic determinants of the labor force withdrawal of registered nurses. J. Econ. Financ. 19(1), 17–26 (1995)
Pfifferling, J.H.: The disruptive physician. Physician Exec. 25(2), 56–61 (1999)
Pudney, S., Shields, M.: Gender and racial discrimination in pay and promotion for NHS nurses. Oxf. Bull. Econ. Stat. 62, 801–835 (2000a)
Pudney, S., Shields, M.: Gender, race, pay and promotion in the British nursing profession: estimation of a generalized ordered probit model. J. Appl. Econ. 15, 367–399 (2000b)
Rissanen, P., Häkkinen, U.: Priority-setting in Finnish healthcare. Health Policy 50, 143–153 (1999)
Rosenstein, A.H.: Nurse-physician relationships: impact on nurse satisfaction and retention. Am. J. Nurs. 102(6), 26–34 (2002)
Shields, M.A.: Addressing nurse shortages: what can policy makers learn form the econometric evidence on nurse labour supply? Econ. J. 114, 464–498 (2004)
Shields, M.A., Ward, M.: Improving nurse retention in the National health service in England: the impact of job satisfaction on intentions to quit. J. Health Econ. 20, 677–701 (2001)
Skrondal, A., Rabe-Hesketh, S. Structural equation modeling: categorical variables. Entry in the Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral Science. Wiley (2005)
Sousa-Poza, A., Henneberger, F.: Analyzing job mobility with job turnover intentions: an international comparative study. J. Econ. Issue 1, 113–135 (2004)
Taipale, V., Risikko, P., Taipale, U., Turpeinen, A., Vallimies-Patomäki, M.: Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon työvoimatarpeen ennakointitoimikunnan mietintö. STM komiteamietintö 7 (Report by the Committee on Estimation of Labour Demand in Social Welfare and Health Care, committee report 2001:7) (2001)
van der Klaauw, W.: On the use of expectations data in estimating structural dynamic models: an analysis of career choices. University of North Carolina Working Paper, June (2000)
Online, http://www.stakes.fi. Taskutieto 2006
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Lea Henriksson and Kirsti Santamäki for co-operation in collecting the data used in this study. The authors are grateful to the discussants and other participants in the Nordic Health Economists’ Study Group (NHESG 2006, Copenhagen) for valuable comments. Terhi Kankaanranta is grateful to the National Postgraduate School of Social and Health Policy Management and Economics, the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, and the competitive research funding of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District for financial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kankaanranta, T., Rissanen, P. Nurses’ intentions to leave nursing in Finland. Eur J Health Econ 9, 333–342 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-007-0080-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-007-0080-3